the moors just above the village, which were periodical sources of
drunkenness and profligacy. Scarcely a wedding took place without the
rough amusement of foot-races, where the half-naked runners were a
scandal to all decent strangers. The old custom of "arvills," or funeral
feasts, led to frequent pitched battles between the drunken mourners.
Such customs were the outward signs of the kind of people with whom Mr.
Grimshaw had to deal. But, by various means, some of the most practical
kind, he wrought a great change in his parish. In his preaching he was
occasionally assisted by Wesley and Whitfield, and at such times the
little church proved much too small to hold the throng that poured in
from distant villages, or lonely moorland hamlets; and frequently they
were obliged to meet in the open air; indeed, there was not room enough
in the church even for the communicants. Mr. Whitfield was once
preaching in Haworth, and made use of some such expression, as that he
hoped there was no need to say much to this congregation, as they had sat
under so pious and godly a minister for so many years; "whereupon Mr.
Grimshaw stood up in his place, and said with a loud voice, 'Oh, sir! for
God's sake do not speak so. I pray you do not flatter them. I fear the
greater part of them are going to hell with their eyes open.'" But if
they were so bound, it was not for want of exertion on Mr. Grimshaw's
part to prevent them. He used to preach twenty or thirty times a week in
private houses. If he perceived any one inattentive to his prayers, he
would stop and rebuke the offender, and not go on till he saw every one
on their knees. He was very earnest in enforcing the strict observance
of Sunday; and would not even allow his parishioners to walk in the
fields between services. He sometimes gave out a very long Psalm
(tradition says the 119th), and while it was being sung, he left the
reading-desk, and taking a horsewhip went into the public-houses, and
flogged the loiterers into church. They were swift who could escape the
lash of the parson by sneaking out the back way. He had strong health